The disclosure relates generally to additive manufacturing techniques, and specifically to bonding two or more polymer components.
In additive manufacturing processes, creating a strong bond between two polymer components can be problematic due to relatively low surface energies of the polymer components. Industry standards employ methods such as solvents, diffusion techniques, heat staking, cross-linking, and ultrasonic welding. However, these techniques are both expensive and time consuming.
Instead, many methods employ simple adhesive methods, such as epoxy, olefin, or methacrylate. Adhesive-based bonds between polymer components, while inexpensive, have marginal adhesion and are generally low strength bonds. Adhesive-based polymer bonds can be aggravated by surface contaminates such as grease, processing debris, dirt, or oil. Thus, adhesive-based bonds between polymer components are generally weak and can weaken over time.
Some techniques use surface preparation, such as plasma etching, exposure to an open flame, or acid etching. These surface preparation techniques can help to some degree, but these processes further add cost to the method and will degrade over time, resulting in a weak bond between polymer components. There is no simple, affordable method that creates improved performance of adhesively bonded polymer joints.